Can crushing device



May 19,1953 c,G";-"-DZ ;NIELSON 2,638,957

CAN CRUSHING DEVICE Filed Sept. 9, 1950 INVENTOR. CARL. G. DANIELSON BY $4, flan; MM

ATTORNEYS Patented May 19, 1953 UNITED STATE CAN CRUSHING DEVICE Carl G. Danielson, Rocky River, Ohio, .assignor to Danco Metal Products, lnc., Westl ake, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 9,1950, SerialNo.-184,l)41 1 1 Claim.

This invention relates to means for crushing cans and the like in order to minimize the storage space necessary for empty containers until final disposition of them.

An object of this invention is to provide means for crushing cans or the like which may be operated efliciently by hand to reduce such. a container to a compact and substantially flattened form.

Another object is to provide means to adapt such a device to operate in conjunction with a receptacle in which the crushed containers are placed for storage purposes.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description and drawing of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing, in which like numerals refer to like parts throughout,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a portion of the device showing in dotted lines a can being crushed;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing an angle strip used for mounting the device on a drum receptacle;

Fig. 5 is a top view of an open top drum with the device mounted thereon, only the base portion of the device being shown; and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the present era when so great a percentage of foods and articles of all sorts are sold in tin can containers or the like, the disposal or storage until disposal of used containers can and does become troublesome. The problem of storage may become particularly acute in situations where many large volume cans are emptied. each day such as in a service station where motor oil is so packaged. In some localities, empty containers must be carried many miles to a disposal area and it is therefore exceedingly desirable to reduce the volume of the empty containers to a minimum.

In general, the present invention relates to a crushing device comprising a hand-operated plunger which carries a crusher plate on its lower end. Also, a novel method of mounting is provided for placing the device in operative position over a receptacle.

Referring to the drawing, the device comprises a metal frame structure having a base It, a rear wall II, and side walls 12, the side walls being of generally triangular form. The various parts of the frame structure may be made separately and suitably joined together or, as in the present in- .like extending through the apertures.

stance, the entire structure may be cast as an integral unit thereby.- providing a strong durable structure. --The..anglefmembers I3, welded orotherwise secured to the; base Ill, extend from made integral...with or are secured-to the rear The flanges extend forwardly there-. from and have a front channel-member ..|6.

wall ll.

mounted between them by means of the bolts l1 and a short rear channel member l8 welded therebetween. An upright plunger 20 having rack teeth 2| cut therein is retained between the channels I6 and I8 and is provided at its lower end with a can-engaging crusher plate 22. An angle member 23 is secured to the lower side of the crusher plate and extends from front to back thereon.

The plunger 20 and its attached crusher plate 22 are raised and lowered by means of a pinion gear 25 keyed to a shaft 26 which is journalled on the flanges I5. A hand lever 21 is mounted on one end of the shaft 26 by means of the bolt and washer combination 28. Therefore, when an operator pulls the lever 2'! forward, the shaft 26 and the pinion keyed thereto will rotate in a counter-clockwise direction (Fig. 3), and the teeth of the pinion 25 meshing with the rack teeth 2| cause the plunger and crusher plate to be lowered. By usin a hand lever 21 of proper length, a force sufficient to flatten a large can between the crusher plate 22 and the base l0 may easily be provided without strenuous effort on the part of an operator. As previously mentioned, the crusher plate carries the angle member 23 and. the base 10 has the similar angle members I3 attached thereto; the angle members l3 prevent a cam from rolling when placed on the base I0, and the angle member 23 aids in initiating the crushing operation.

As shown in Fig. 1, apertures 30 are provided in the rear wall ll, so that the device may be suspended from a suitable support by bolts or the To facilitate the removal of crushed containers, an opening 3! is provided in the rear portion of the base I0. Thus a flattened can may be pushed rearwardly by an uncrushed can being placed in the device and fall into a suitable collector.

In Figs. 4, 5 and 6, there is illustrated means to mount the device on an open top collecting drum, designated generally by the numeral 33, having a. top bead or flange 34. The mounting means comprises two angle strips 35 which are deposited in the collector in virtually a single operation with a consequent saving of etimez-andceffort.

The device described hereiii' ii' struction, durable and efficierit reduce a tin can or the like to approximately oneseventh its original volume. Variouschangesmfw sjguctureshavinga-generallyihorizontlal baseplate and-fa generally vertioalereariwatlle awpain on gen-1 erallyi vertical flanges: carriewbyaand extendingw forwardly norm-said rearrwall'ifm lateia'llyspaced; genenaillwpaitallel ;relation;' a pair' of generally:

vertical %oppositcly ;extending;#ehannekmembers' carried byj saidtfianges inrthet spaee threbetweem specedi apartztoz-praeide :a generallyzverti simple -in eonand will quiiilily .4 cal passageway, a plunger in said passageway provided with rack teeth along a substantial portion of its length, a can crushing plate carried by said plunger at the lower end thereof, a pinion journaled in said flanges and disposed in the space therebetween for meshing engagement with the rack teeth of said plunger, one of said channel members being 'o'flreducecl length to permit such meshing engagement, ancl'a lever for-rotating said pinion to thereby raise and lower the plunger and the can crushing plate carried thereby relativeto the base plate of the frame structure.

CARL G. DANIELSON.

ltefi encesfilted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 626,727 Shepherd June 13, 1399 1,767,385 Logan June 24, 1930 2,128,630 Wright Aug. 30, 1938 2,150,312 Auke'rma'n Mar."14,"I939 $234,098" Well'sj Mar". 4, 194'1 2,246,394" stee1e' Ju11'e"17,"1'94'1 2,493,193 Hait Jan53g1950' 2,603,270 Voi'gt' et al July 15; '19'52 FQREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1 277 1477 Italy; Sept. 10; 19 30 

